I have transcribed a great number of census families for a book I'm writing. Gradually, I became more and more aware that the people in the census often did not use their given name, but rather were going by their middle name instead. Today, I found a child Minerva listed only as H.M. in an earlier census. It appears that she was using her middle name later. It is not unusual to find a child listed with one name, but on the next census the child has a different name. The ages and the order of the children can be used to assure youself that they are both the same child. I remember a man who was listed with given and middle name. His son had the two names reversed. After the son left the household, the son took the same name that his father had. And the father then either reversed the order of the two names or just used the earlier middle name (I don't recall which). Sometimes the men were listed with just a single name. The situation was complex, but I finally figured it out. These two men may actually have had identical given and middle names, but I will probably never know. A woman might be listed as Mary A., then later as Anne Marie or just Ann (or even Hannah). Sometimes the middle initial of a married woman is actually the first initial of her maiden name. One has to be aware of that. Therefore, a woman might be found as Adaline C. Smith one time, but Adaline A. Smith another time. Both may be correct if you knew the maiden name. Informants on a death certificate may not know all of the information for which they are asked. This is especially true of second spouses. For example, by the time of the second marriage the parents of their husband or wife may be deceased. They didn't meet them and in conversation may never have heard the mother's maiden name, or the places of birth. When it comes to a name, the name the informant had heard may have been the person's middle name. Or, we may have only found records of the the person using their middle name, whereas the informant gave their true given name for the certificate. Cliff Lamere

Middle names----ah, yes---the bane of the genealogist. It appears to have been the fashion some years ago to name, at least the males, a perfectly good name, such as my husband, James, and middle name him the name he was to be known as, in our case, Lawrence. He had brothers Clarence Glen, known as Glen; Charles Moreland, known as Moreland; and Earl Dean, known, for some odd reason as Earl. Guess the fashion died out. Then there was the endearing fashion of the Irish naming their daughter Bridget, while in Ireland, and then calling her Delia once she reached these shores. You also have to learn all the nicknames for common given names, such as Maggie for Margaret, Mamie for Mary, (also Polly, Molly, etc.) and Dolly for Dorothy, Patsy for Martha, And all the forms of Jane---Jennie, Jean, Joan. Siobhan, Janet ad infinitum. Don't ever forget all the forms of Elizabeth. Remember Jacque is not a French form of John, but of Jacob, which translates as James. They often also doggedly used one name over and over if the child given that name died until they got one who lived with that name. I think I would have gotten superstitious eventually. OR the Germans, at least in the Pfalz area during a certain time period, named every son the same first name, such as Johann and given a different second name such as Franz. This child was known as Franz from then on. They were usually, at this particular time, were given the name of the Saint upon whose day they were born. Me, I was born named Marilynn with 2 n "s" on the end, still giving me no end of trouble but as a child I was "Tootie" and didn't know the difference until I started school. Yes, names are what makes genealogy tracing fun, exasperating, and VERY educational! Marilynn IBSSG ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cliff Lamere" <clifflamere@nycap.rr.com> To: <NYWESTCH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 4:08 AM Subject: [NYWESTCH] Middle names >I have transcribed a great number of census families for a book I'm > writing. Gradually, I became more and more aware that the people in the > census often did not use their given name, but rather were going by > their middle name instead. Today, I found a child Minerva listed only > as H.M. in an earlier census. It appears that she was using her middle > name later. > > It is not unusual to find a child listed with one name, but on the next > census the child has a different name. The ages and the order of the > children can be used to assure youself that they are both the same child. > > I remember a man who was listed with given and middle name. His son had > the two names reversed. After the son left the household, the son took > the same name that his father had. And the father then either reversed > the order of the two names or just used the earlier middle name (I don't > recall which). Sometimes the men were listed with just a single name. > The situation was complex, but I finally figured it out. These two men > may actually have had identical given and middle names, but I will > probably never know. > > A woman might be listed as Mary A., then later as Anne Marie or just Ann > (or even Hannah). > > Sometimes the middle initial of a married woman is actually the first > initial of her maiden name. One has to be aware of that. Therefore, a > woman might be found as Adaline C. Smith one time, but Adaline A. Smith > another time. Both may be correct if you knew the maiden name. > > Informants on a death certificate may not know all of the information > for which they are asked. This is especially true of second spouses. > For example, by the time of the second marriage the parents of their > husband or wife may be deceased. They didn't meet them and in > conversation may never have heard the mother's maiden name, or the > places of birth. > > When it comes to a name, the name the informant had heard may have been > the person's middle name. Or, we may have only found records of the the > person using their middle name, whereas the informant gave their true > given name for the certificate. > > Cliff Lamere > > > > *************************************** > Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ > *************************************** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >